Homemade Gripe Water

Since everyone has been asking me about the homemade gripe water for babies I decided to do a post dedicated to it… The first question that I always get is, what is gripe water?  Gripe water is a home remedy for babies and newborns who suffer from colic, bad gas, teething pain, reflux and other stomach ailments. The ingredients can vary depending on what you have/ want to use. Also you may want to play with the different ingredients to see what works best for your babies.

Ingredients you can use and what they are for are as follows: Dill Seed: GI track.  Dispels gas, stimulates appetite, and settles the stomach. This was also the main original ingredient used by British nannies. Fennel Seeds: GI track. Same as Dill. (Dill and Fennel are your main ingredient. You can have both in your gripe water but you must have at least one) Cinnamon Bark: Dispels gas and decreases/ eliminates vomiting. Ginger: Stomach upset, reflux, and relieves nausea Chamomile: Relaxant, decreases anxiety, helps promote sleep Peppermint: Relieves stomach issues and GI upset Lemon Balm: Relieves stomach issues and GI upset I have used a couple of variations thus far and they are listed in previous blogs if you wish to see those. This particular combination seems to work the best  with most children. 3 cups water 1 teaspoon Crushed Fennel seeds 2 teaspoons Chamomile (bulk herb) 2-3 teaspoons sugar You will need a pan to boil the mix in, a tin tea ball (cheese cloth or a Muslim ball can be used as well), and a mortar and pestal (or a ziplock bag and something to crush seeds with like a rolling pin or hammer). Gather all your ingredients. You can find these at any herbal shop and even some in your standard grocery stores. First you need to crush your Fennel seeds. Make sure they are really broke up to release the active part of the seed. The put all your herbs (except the Chamomile) inside your tin tea ball (if you are using crushed ginger just add to the water and stir in well) Put 2 cups of water in small sauce pan along with the tea ball. Turn stove on high until it boils. Boil for about 2 minutes. Then turn down to simmer. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat, remove tea ball, stir in sugar, and let sit until cooled to room temperature. place 2 cups of water into the pan and fill the tea ball full of the chamomile flowers. Bring to  boil then simmer on low for 10 mins.  Combine with your other mix that you made first. Place into a tightly sealed jar or container. Throw out after 24 hours (which means you have to make a new batch everyday). Give 5-10ml as needed (I would not exceed more then 6-7 times a day) I give it before their bottles. This worked fabulously for us and never failed. . The over the counter gripe water we first got worked for one day, then basically nothing. The Witching Hour, fussiness wasn’t an issue after we started using the homemade gripe water.  The colicky episodes vanished.  The reflux was resolved by the time they turned 6 months. In general we had much happier and calmer babies. It also really helped their sleeping for longer stretches of time as well. I hope that this helps anyone who is interested. If you have any other questions you can email me at    mom@thetripletlife.com I would recommend this to anyone dealing with the dreaded evening fussiness, colicky baby, reflux babies, baby gas relief or any other type of stomach/ fussiness issues. Also if your baby is a really restless sleeper I would recommend it at night.